Episode 4.
"Then try guiding me for a bit."
Seoyul ended up panicking. Guiding?
To think he was being asked to try guiding. Seoyul was indeed a Guide, but he had never properly learned how to guide anyone in his entire life.
The only thing he had learned was how to make guiding drugs.
'Wh-what do I do?'
He had asked to be taken along, saying guiding would help, so if he said he couldn't do it, they might not take him. But even so, blindly attempting to guide was too risky.
He had heard that if one guided without properly learning how, both parties could become endangered.
'I can't…… lie.'
Seoyul forcibly held back his welling tears and opened his mouth.
"……I don't know…… how to do it."
"……What?"
No matter how he looked at it, that face belonged to someone dumbfounded. It wasn't unreasonable. To think someone his age didn't know how to guide…….
His face flushed crimson with utter shame. Still, he managed to offer a small excuse.
"The thing is…… I learned how to make the medicine, but I haven't learned how to do it to a person yet…… They said it's dangerous if I do it without learning……"
His final words were barely audible, trailing away. But the ears of an S-Rank Esper caught that sound without difficulty.
'……What kind of kid is he?'
Doun was so dumbfounded he lost his words. But since he still looked young, Doun nodded as if that were possible. In that case, verification could come later.
For now…….
"Uwah!"
He lightly slung Seoyul over his shoulder and asked in an indifferent voice.
"Where should I go?"
"Huh?"
Seoyul was startled by that voice and opened his eyes wide. But as the meaning soon registered in his head, anticipation began to flood in.
Is he going to take me with him?
If that were the case, he really had to do well from now on. He had to give Doun information that would be helpful so that all the organization members could be caught, and only then could the future change.
'I can do it. I did well just now, didn't I?'
Of course, he had blurted out something strange in the heat of the moment. But he decided to find meaning in the fact that he had conveyed it properly.
"Well, it's……"
Having gained courage, Seoyul began to divulge all the information he knew.
After that, everything proceeded smoothly. Doun destroyed the organization members' hideouts one by one, crushing and subduing them. He didn't even seem to be using his Esper abilities, yet the members crumpled like sheets of paper and flew away.
Watching that, Seoyul felt somewhat empty.
'Were they…… this weak?'
To him, they had been such big, scary people, but to Doun, they were merely frail humans.
Was this the power of an S-Rank Esper?
Seoyul took in the sight of the organization being routed from atop Doun's bobbing shoulder. Since his position was what it was, the world was flipped upside down, making it feel even less real.
Whenever he swept through a place, people in Special Team uniforms unfailingly appeared, put handcuffs on the members, and transported them off somewhere.
"Looks like this one is the last."
Thwack!
Doun muttered as he sent the last organization member flying far away at the final location. Watching that sight, Seoyul realized that the organization had truly been eradicated.
'Is it…… over?'
As far as he knew, this was all of them. Even if there were other places somewhere, since the major ones had been uncovered, they wouldn't be able to act for the time being.
'Ahh…… really…….'
Tears gushed out. This was a place that could disappear so easily at the hands of one person, so why had his past self run away? What had he been so afraid of?
He cried endlessly because his foolish self was pathetic and pitiful. These were also tears of relief.
He had finally taken the first step. The first step toward fulfilling that small wish his mother had spoken of.
Seoyul resolved to never run away again and to move forward strongly from now on. He hated himself for having been so shrunken. He also promised himself that he would only cry today and never again.
But Doun, seeing him suddenly start crying, asked in bewilderment.
"Why are you crying? Surely you haven't gotten attached?"
Attached?
It was a ridiculous thing to say. Because his throat was choked up, Seoyul could only shake his head back and forth. At that, Doun turned his gaze away with a languid 'Hmm……'.
Then, perhaps because a headache had struck again, he scrunched up his face. He said to the Special Team that had begun clearing the scene in a sharp voice.
"I'm leaving now, so clean up the rest yourselves."
"What? You're leaving?"
"You don't need me anymore. I'm going."
The moment he said that, Seoyul's vision distorted.
Before he could even figure out what was happening, his vision darkened and returned with a dizzy sensation.
Uu-uung.
A low vibrating sound rang in his ears, and gradually the surrounding noises grew louder. The first sound he recognized was the scolding voice of a woman with a sharp tone.
"Hey!! I told you not to come here using your ability!"
Startled awake by that voice, Seoyul looked around. They had definitely been in a shabby building of the organization, but what lay before his eyes was a clean and bright laboratory.
Several people in white coats were walking around. Among them, a woman with black hair roughly tied up approached aggressively and shouted.
"Why does a kid who doesn't even respond to medicine keep using his ability? I told you to save it, didn't I! I said even if you call an ambulance, don't use your ability and get transported here!"
Ambulance? Get transported……?
He had no idea what she was talking about, but Doun seemed familiar with this situation.
"Ah, it was urgent, what do you want me to do. Hurry up and hook me up. I'm literally dying right now."
"Consider this the only time I'm letting it slide. Hurry up and come."
When the woman gestured, the researchers began busily moving. Doun was pressing his brow with a pained expression, as if his head hurt.
Although the atmosphere seemed somewhat urgent, no one paid any attention to Seoyul, who was hanging from Doun's shoulder.
He was aware of his timid personality, but still, for no one to care despite a person being right there in plain sight.
He felt unnecessarily intimidated, wondering if his presence was really that insignificant.
"By the way, what's this?"
Then, a welcome voice was heard. Seoyul perked up and raised his head. The woman before him was looking down with a face that seemed to urge him to explain.
Then, as if only now remembering, Doun let out a small sigh and opened his mouth.
"Ah…… this?"
This?
At the somewhat absurd reference, Seoyul turned his gaze, but Doun carelessly threw him onto a sofa and said.
"My Guide."
"Uwah!"
But due to the shock of being thrown, Seoyul didn't hear what he had said. Moreover, having stayed in one position for several hours, his muscles were screaming in protest, leaving him completely out of it.
"What?"
The woman looked back at Doun with her eyes widened in slight absurdity. But he still moved with an indifferent face, took off his top, and lay down on a bed that looked like an operating table. Then the researchers attached patches all over his body and injected a needle into his forearm.
"Phew……"
Only then did his condition seem to improve slightly, and Doun continued his explanation with a long sigh.
"I picked him up because he asked me to, so look into him yourselves. I need to…… sleep……"
Having spoken up to that point, he became quiet as if he had fallen asleep in an instant. The injection given to Doun seemed to be some kind of powerful sleeping sedative.
Seoyul thought.
If he needed guiding, he should go receive guiding; why had he come to the laboratory? What did it mean?
No matter how low the rank, receiving guiding was more effective than being forced into sleep. And yet he had chosen forced sleep over guiding.
'Maybe there are fewer compatible Guides than I thought…….'
Seoyul recalled the information that Doun had awakened at nine years old. Since he was now twenty-six, he wondered if he had been living like this for seventeen years.
The reality that no one could help him felt just like his past self. The feeling of living in endless pain.
'……I want to help.'
If there was a possibility, he wanted to help. Wasn't he a Guide with wide versatility? Even an Esper with rare compatibility might be able to receive guiding from him.
"Right. You asked Cha Doun to pick you up?"
"……Huh?"
Startled by the suddenly close voice, he turned his head. There, a woman wearing a mischievous smile was asking him.
"Ah……"
Recalling his foolish actions from a few hours ago, his face flushed red.
"I'm I Seonjeong from Research Team 1 of the Korean Esper Ability Management Association, but what's your name, little one?"
"……Seoyul. I'm Seoyul."
He wanted to add that he wasn't a little kid, but he couldn't muster the courage. But thinking about the age he had returned to, he supposed he must look like a little kid.
Even to himself, the age of twenty felt sufficiently young.
"Then can you explain what happened? As you can see, the party in question has fallen asleep."
Doun had indeed been forced into a sleep state. Seoyul nodded slightly and began explaining how he had come to be here.
"Aha. So what you're saying is, the guiding drug you made has wide versatility, so it might help that guy?"
"Yes. He doesn't seem to be able to receive guiding…… so if possible, I want to help…… since the Esper helped me too. Because he's my…… benefactor……"
The last words couldn't come out properly because he was somehow embarrassed. But Seonjeong nodded as if she understood correctly.
A Guide with wide versatility. He wasn't even officially registered and had said he distributed medicine only through illegal routes. The moment she heard that, something came to Seonjeong's mind.
'No way…… is it him?'
The timing was perfect too. The guiding drug that had shown any effect on Doun had appeared about three years ago. It was a time when they had reached out to illegal routes because they couldn't find a compatible drug at all.
If he was indeed the creator of that drug, Doun could buy an enormous amount of time. It would be no exaggeration to say he was currently walking a dangerous tightrope.
"Great. Then let's run an examination right away!"
"Huh? R-right away?"
His gentle-looking eyes opened wide. Seonjeong suddenly thought he resembled a squirrel.
Since Doun had quite the fierce temper, she momentarily wondered if it would be okay. But that was a concern that wouldn't be too late even after confirming whether he was indeed the creator of that drug.
"The sooner the better. Is that okay?"
"Yes!"
His bewilderment was momentary; Seoyul nodded his head quickly. There was only one thought filling his head.
Could he be of help to him?
He hoped he could be of help.
Thinking that, his heart began to pound and race. Since this was his first time experiencing this, he didn't know what expression to make or how to act.
'Still…….'
This is good…….
Feeling a pleasant sense of anticipation for the first time, Seoyul smiled faintly.